490NBA

ASCII Ethernet TCP/IP to Allen-Bradley PLC

Moving Ethernet TCP/IP data to a PLC Made Easy
Ethernet is now the standard and there is an awful lot of raw TCP data out there. There are a ton of perfectly good scales, barcode readers and other devices that generate an ASCII string over TCP/IP. And devices like printers and displays that receive Ethernet TCP messages. This is equipment that you’ve used for a long time. You know how to set it up, how to make it work and that it’s reliable.

The problem is that you still have to connect these devices into your PLC. That means writing and testing plc logic. Not hard – just another task to do and more code to support. But there is a better way, a much better way. If you could move the data right into the PLCs tags or registers it would save you time, money and a pile of headaches.

That’s the device we have developed for you. It quickly and easily moves Barcode data, Weigh Scale data and other TCP device data to Allen Bradley PLCs using EtherNet/IP. Using EtherNet/IP Client technology the 490NBX EtherNet/IP gateway moves your ethernet TCP data to a PLC with little or no delay. Milliseconds after receiving your raw TCP data it is transferred to your user-specified tag in the PLC. Simply configure the input data format, the IP Address of the PLC and a PLC tag using a very simple browser interface and you are ready to run. No standalone or custom software is required. It’s that simple.

How it Works
You don’t need to use message instructions to move data into a PLC. We have found a simpler way to send the data. You define a tag in the PLC for our unit to monitor. Our unit watches the string length and anytime it sees a non-zero value we send that data and set the string length back to zero. Whenever we see a data in our unit from your device we send it out to a tag in the PLC. On the TCP device side we transfer raw TCP data. Our unit can connect to your device by imputing the devices IP address or it can wait for the device to connect to it by leaving the address 0.0.0.0.

Is It Really that Easy to Use?
Yes, these unit are so popular because they are so easy to set up. There is no software to download or code to write. You simply map the tags to monitor and set you devices connection and you are done. This is all done via a built in browser based interface. You pull up the web page and enter your configuration. The whole thing can be set up in less than ten minutes.

Product Selector

Testimonial

We provide different PLC platforms depending on customer requirements and I have found the 460MSA and 435NBX gateways from RTA to be user-friendly and have cut down our project configuration time considerably. The web interface saves time in not having to lug a laptop out to the field to make changes and the user manuals are straight forward and informative.